 PRUITT HAS GONE GREEN Palm Beach Post -- Tuesday, May 15, 2001 Environmental groups denigrated Ken Pruitt as the state's "worst legislator of the year" when he served in the Florida House. But this year, his first in the state Senate, 40 of the 65 projects Sen. Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, has proposed for next year's budget are environment-friendly Ð from waterway cleanup to park improvements to aquaculture research. Nathaniel Reed of Jupiter Island, Florida's first environmental regulator and a former assistant secretary of the Interior, praised Sen. Pruitt for "securing desperately needed funds for the restoration of Lake Okeechobee, the Lake Worth Lagoon and the Loxahatchee River." While Gov. Bush still could veto some of Sen. Pruitt's $64 million in projects, the $10 million for Lake Okeechobee seems safe. Sen. Pruitt also hopes $2.5 million for Lake Worth Lagoon, $1 million for the Loxahatchee River and $4 million each for St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon cleanup projects will remain, as they should. Last year, Sen. Pruitt secured $38.5 million for Lake Okeechobee to begin the cleanup effort. Even combined with this year's $10 million, the money is far short of the estimated $1 billion needed to save the dying lake. Still, the best case is that the money will mean a symbolic shift away from exploiting the lake to preserving it. "I've always been perplexed," Sen. Pruitt said, "that we focus on the Everglades and not on the lake, when we know that polluted water heads south." The drought that has reduced the lake to its lowest level in years, he notes, has a saving grace. A berm of organic material that cut off game fish from their spawning grounds is high and dry and can be removed, saving millions of dollars. After eight years in the House - at one point, he seemed to revel in criticism from conservationists - Sen. Pruitt shifted strongly in 1998. That year, the South Florida Water Management District dumped billions of gallons of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie River after dry-season El Nino rains had filled the lake to overflowing. An outbreak of sick fish in the river sent tourists home early and packed public meeting houses with irate residents. The senator promised - and delivered - millions of dollars for river cleanup projects. Sen. Pruitt will do even better next year if he drops his support for pumping untreated water underground for storage. But in a Legislature short on advocates for the environment, Sen. Pruitt deserves praise from the groups that once scorned him. He has earned it. Copyright (c) 2001, The Palm Beach Post |